Radial louver construction



June 17, 1952 G. c. RUDD 2,600,925

RADIAL LOUVER CONSTRUCTION Filed July 1, 1949 "-r: GENE C. RUDD 22 l6ZSnnentor attorney Patented June 17, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICERADIAL LOUVER CONSTRUCTION Gene 0. Rudd, Fort Worth, Tex., assignor toSouthern Air Conditioning Mfg. (30., a partnership comprised of Gene 0.Rudd and Charles B. Rudd of Fort Worth, Tex.

Application July 1, 1949, Serial No. 102,521

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in louvers for evaporative aircooling units and the like.

An object of the invention is to provide a louver assembly havingradially disposed louvers which may be conveniently adjustedindependently of each other so as to control the direction of airpassing therethrough.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simplified constructionfor frictionally engaging the inner ends of the radially disposedlouvers for maintaining them in their desired positions.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in combination with aportable evaporative type cooler, a louver construction and arrangementwhereby air passing through said cooler may be directed laterally fromany side thereof.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing description and accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portable evaporative cooler and showing thepresent louver construction mounted thereon.

Figure 2 is a broken side elevation of the cooler and louver combinationillustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a broken enlarged vertical sectional view of the upper endof the louver illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a broken perspective view of the construction illustrated inFigure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the louver supporting frame, and

Figure 6 is a perspective view illustrating the present inventionpositioned in a box type cooler or the like.

The numera1 l generally designates a louver supporting frame including apolygonal ring H at the center and downwardly and outwardly disposedlegs l2 projecting therefrom. The ends of the legs terminate indownwardly formed eyelets It for securing the frame over the opening tobe louvered.

The assembly shown includes a plurality of louvers [4 which aresubstantially in the form of segments and have their inner ends rolled,as at I 5, to hingedly engage the sides of the polygonal ring ll.Beneath the rolled inner ends l of the louvers l4 there is a disk Ithaving a bolt ll slidably and perpendicularly positioned through itscenter. The upper end or head of the bolt I8 is supported within aU-shaped bracket l3 which, in turn, is secured to the inner surface of acap 23 positioned above and in contact with the rolled inner ends l5 ofthe louvers It. The lower extending end of the bolt I1 is provided witha pair of spaced washers 2| having a compression spring 22 therebetween.A nut 23, threadedly engaged on the end of the bolt l1, bears againstthe lowermost washer 2|; and by reason of the location of thecompression spring 22, the rolled ends l5 of the louvers l4 arefrictionally engaged, and whereby said louvers may be manually andselectively positioned at desired angles with respect to the axialcenter of the louver assembly. The amount of friction applied may becontrolled by adjusting the nut 23. 7

It is to be understood that the described louver assembly is capable ofmany applications, such as over an opening in a wall (not shown), orover an annular opening 24 in a box type evaporative cooler, generallydesignated by the numeral 25 in Figure 6.

The present louver assembly is particularly adaptable to a portableevaporative cooler 26, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The cooler 26includes a circular pan 21 having an upwardly and inwardly directedflange 28 around its periphery, and an annular ring 29 secured beneaththe inner edge of said flange. An open mesh cylindrical housing 33 issecured to the ring 29, and extends upwardly above said pan where anupper and inwardly flanged ring 3| is secured to the upper end of saidhousing. Beneath and secured to the upper ring 3| there is an annularchannel 32 having small openings 33 in its lower surface. A cylindricalcooling pad 34 of excelsior or the like is positioned betweencylindrically formed screen wire 35 and 36. said pad and the supportingwire 35 and 36 extending downwardly into the bottom of the pan 21.

Inwardly of the inner screen 36, and supported on the bottom of the pan21, there is a water pump 31 having an upwardly extending discharge tube38 connected at its upper end with a water distributor 39, which in turnis connected with supply tubes 40 communicating with the interior of theannular channel 32. The last described arrangement of pump 31, dischargetube 38, and water distributor 39 raises water from the pan 2! and intothe channel 32 from where the water trickles downwardly through and overthe cooling pad 34.

A U-shaped bracket 4| secured to the inner surface of the channel 32supports a motor 42 having its shaft 43 vertically and upwardlyextending, and upon which a fan 44 is mounted. The rotation of the fan44 is such that air is drawn inwardly through the open mesh housing 30and through the cooling pad 34, thence upwardly and outwardly throughthe channel 32. By manually positioning and spacing the louvers [4relative to the upper end of the cooler 26, the amount of air passingtherethrough can be controlled; and by selectively raising certain ofsaid louvers only, the flow of air may be controlled as to lateraldirection.

Other details of the evaporative cooler 26 includes casters 45 securedbeneath the lower surface of the pan 21, and. screws 46 passing throughthe frame eyelets l3 and threadedly engaged in the channel 32.

The described form of the invention may be made in many ways within thescope of the :appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a louver assembly, the combination-of: a central supporting ring,radially arranged louvers hingedly mounted at their inner ends on saidring, a cap above and in contact with said inner ends of said louvers, adisk beneath and in contact with the under ends of said louvers, andspring means pressing said cap and said disk toward each other.

GENE C. RUDD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

